On Friday, Google started shipping the tablets, which customers have been able to pre-order from retailers and through Google Play for the last few weeks. Asus, which is manufacturing the Nexus 7, has told TechWeekEurope that it will be released in the UK on 27 July, with the 16GB version costing £199 and the 8GB edition costing £159.

Nexus 7 heaven?

GameStop has reportedly sold the entirety of its first two allocations of the tablet, but has said that its third allotment will be available this August. It however did not reveal how many pre-order it has secured. Sam’s Club (owned by retail giant Wal-Mart) and Staples have also sold out.

The Nexus 7 is Google’s attempt at increasing the market share of Android tablets, with devices running the mobile operating system so far failing to significantly challenge Apple’s control of the market.

The most successful Android tablet has been the Amazon Kindle Fire, but this uses a modified version of the open source platform. The Kindle Fire was initially sold at a loss, with costs recouped through the sale of content from the Amazon Marketplace.

Google hopes to emulate this strategy, although a recent teardown of the device revealed that the cost of components for the Nexus 7 was just £12 more than the Kindle Fire. Google’s tablet boasts superior specifications however, including a Tegra3 processor and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Steve McCaskill is editor of TechWeekEurope and ChannelBiz. He joined
as a reporter in 2011 and covers all areas of IT, with a particular interest in telecommunications, mobile and networking, along with sports technology.